Tom said, “Thank you.”
As he was about to leave, Dr. Sato suddenly said, “Tom, ok, there is something I need to show you. As the commander of this ship, you will have to make an important decision eventually that you may not have expected or anticipated.”
Tom said, “Ok. I had a funny feeling that something was going on. So now tell me what I will have to deal with, please.”
Dr. Sato said, “I need you to be calm when I tell you this. This is going to shock you as well as anyone on board who learns about this.” She took a deep breath. “Ok here it is… Dr. Kintain has cloned himself, but the clone is really not a mirror of himself. It may look like him, but it sure has a long way to go before we will know enough about him to be able to decide whether it is a success or a total failure.”
Tom was speechless at first. He had not expected any cloning would occur until they were far away from Earth. Now suddenly, there was one on the Imagine. However, from what he had just heard, there seemed to be a lot of things that would have to be considered with this clone. He fought every urge to demand that Dr. Sato ask the clone and Dr. Kintain to leave at once. A flood of revulsion threatened his cool-headedness to the core. He figured there must be a good explanation for this.
“Dr. Sato, of course, it’s not what I was expecting to hear.” He paused to collect his thoughts. “Can you tell me what I can expect from this? I assume the clone is already here on the ship and I will have to meet this thing, or what do you call it, him or her?”
Dr. Sato said, “His name is Epoh. Epoh will go down in history as the first human clone, but no person on Earth will ever know this. It seems that Epoh has some undesirable traits which will have to be addressed as we move along. If Epoh becomes a danger to anyone on Imagine, then we would have to terminate him. We do hope though that we can find a way to make Epoh a valuable member of this ship before we leave Earth. Only time will tell. When you are ready, I will have you meet Epoh and Dr. Kintain to discuss this issue further. It would be more dangerous for us to attempt to work with clones without having tried in the environment we are more familiar with here on Earth. Surely, you agree, Dr. Burns.”
Tom was not really comfortable with what Dr. Sato had just said. However, he had to trust her to make good decisions or she could not be on the ship with him. “Yes. Please let me know when you are ready to introduce him to me. It will have to be way before we launch, so make it as soon as feasible. Try not to let too many people know about this. They may think we have monster on board, and we do not need widespread panic.”
Dr. Sato thanked Tom for his understanding of the situation and promised to introduce him within a few weeks. Tom let her get back to work.
He was very curious about this Epoh. How would it affect the crew and the trainees? Would Epoh be able to take orders like everyone else? What were its physical abilities? Only time would tell. For now, he had an open mind, since anything that would help them reach another galaxy needed to be considered.
Chapter 46 – Mutual Destruction
President Stevens, The Imagine, Rocky Mountains, CO
Although he had served in Afghanistan and Iraq, President Stevens had grown up a pacifist. He wanted to avoid war at all costs. Before becoming president, he tried to pass bills in Congress to cut military spending and focus on domestic issues as a representative from Maryland. This had not gone over well with other members of the legislature who were very hawkish. These bills continuously failed in part due to the aggression of Russia. The United States always needed to build more advanced weapons to keep up with Russia and other countries. By 2029, a new, upgraded ICBM that improved on the Trident II D5—the result of a cooperative effort between the Air Force and the Navy— would replace older arsenal. Tom’s former employer, Boeing, along with Northrop Grumman, were in development deals to build the advanced, nuclear-armed submarine launched missile. Now part of him was glad Congress had failed to cut back on military spending.
President Stevens knew he was going to have to confront Ivanov about his military build-up. A fragile peace had been held together by treaties broken by both countries. There were many occasions that Ivanov tried to gain influence over a country, offering them weapons to fight an adversary. Ivanov probably wanted to go down in history as a great ruler and great military man. History had already shown in Syria and other countries that Ivanov was willing to kill to get his way.
Before he met with Ivanov, President Stevens met with military leaders from the Pentagon via the communications center of Imagine. The Pentagon developed a strategic plan to move as many nuclear subs as were available into locations that would allow them the opportunity to hit all the major Russian cities and military bases at a moment’s notice. They would take out as many Russian missile silos as possible. B52 bombers would fly from Frankfurt, Germany. The Poles were told to activate all missile defense systems so they could shoot down any missiles Russia launched at Europe. Everything would be in place for a counterattack to anything that Russia did. Everyone was told to be on the highest alert and to stand-by for further orders.
One thing Stevens wanted—before any attack—was for the spaceships to lift off. Any war between Russia and the United States might be the last war on Earth. He knew he would have to wait at least a week before a major confrontation with Ivanov. Before this happened, his generals were directed to contact their military counterparts in Russia and let them know that their troop movements were being monitored and they needed to withdraw immediately from their frontline positions. If the Russians withdrew, it would solve the problem, but the president did not think the Russians would do so just yet. He spent the next few days in constant contact with the Pentagon and their allies.
Stevens hoped that Ivanov would notice what he was doing. Maybe he would give up his military plans if he knew the United States stood ready to attack him. If the president ordered the attack on Russia, there would be no going back.
It would probably lead to the total destruction of both countries.
Chapter 47 – Ticking Time Bomb?
Dr. Sato, the Imagine, Rocky Mountains, CO
Fully recovered, Dr. Sato headed down a long hallway on the ship, having just met with her staff in their office space. Her experimentations were unfolding quickly and her brief reports to Tom were essentially bringing enough to the surface to gain credibility in his eyes, but she wished she could share with him some of the experimentations that Epoh had done under Dr. Kintain’s supervision. They were beyond magnificent. Tissue samples had recovered from horrible ailments in record time—implementing modern studies, tackling resveratrol infusions and testing of telomerase alterations. In short order, he’d become a tailor of sorts. The system of rewards Dr. Kintain had discovered fostered in him a better understanding of his role. Epoh—and future others—like him could understand the importance of keeping “flawed” humans around on the ship even if he felt a part of himself wanting to destroy them for their inability to be more like him—sickless, unerring and machine-like.
Yet, Dr. Sato found Epoh’s thoughts troubling. She felt it was a vulnerability in his system design. She wished desperately to improve upon him, and Dr. Kintain and she clashed on the topic. He thought up ways to coax Epoh into releasing the thoughts, but in truth, Dr. Sato was bothered by the fact that they were there in the first place. Was he deeply murderous toward the humans that they would be sharing close quarters with even though he would be held in his own quarters for most of the journey until it was safe to introduce him to people? She appreciated that Epoh had discovered ways of immortalizing skin cells in labs repeatedly and had found a way to destroy the cancer cell byproducts. If Epoh’s tendency toward destructive thoughts was to be used for anything, Dr. Kintain had found one of the best ways.